Biography

First studies and arrival in Europe

Geoffrey Douglas Madge was born in Adelaide (Australia). After hearing the
great pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch he continued his piano studies with Clemens
Leski at the Elder
Conservatorium in Adelaide. At an early stage he developed an interest in
unjustifiably neglected composers and this became one of his main enterprises.
In 1963, after winning first prize in the ABC piano competition in Sydney, he
went to Europe to study with Geza Anda in Luzern and Eduardo del Pueyo in
Brussels. Following this he gave successful debut concerts in London, Cologne,
Budapest and Amsterdam, settling in Holland upon his appointment as professor
of piano at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague.

Recital programs

Geoffrey Madge’s recital programmes consist of a combination of baroque,
classical, 19th century and contemporary works, well-known and lesser known
compositions. Special projects like his “Cathedrals of Sound” series (first
arranged for the 1996 Adelaide Festival) in which he performs 3 or 4 recitals
of epoch-making works from the whole piano literature, During the last years
some of the main works performed have been Bach’s Goldberg Variations, The
Art of Fugue and the complete Well-tempered Clavier, Beethoven’s Diabelli
Variations and Hammerklavier Sonata, Reger’s Bach Variations and the Debussy
Etudes have always also been a highlight in his concert programmes. He is
fascinated by the connections between architecture, literature and music.

Concerto repertoire and other interests

He has given performances of a wide range of piano concertos, all the Bachs,
the 5 Beethovens, including the Choral Fantasia, Mozart KV415, Brahms 2nd,
Reger, the Busoni and Britten, Liszt 1 and 2, Gershwin and many other major works (see his repertoire). During the 60's he
was investigating the music of the Russian composers around the revolution
years and following much research in libraries and archives brought a number of
forgotten works from Mossolov, Lourié, Roslavetz, Wyschnegradsky and others to
the attention of the public.

Xenakis

After arriving in Europe he was quickly discovered by Iannis Xenakis. His
first meeting with the celebrated composer was in 1970 in London, prior to his
performance of “Herma”, part of his debut concert programme at Wigmore
Hall. Following this meeting many Xenakis performances followed under the
supervision of the composer: his complete piano solo works, ensemble works and
both concertos. One of the highlights in Geoffrey Madge’s cooperation with
Xenakis was his very successful contribution to the Xenakis Festival in 1975 in
Athens with Herma, Evryali and Synaphai. In that year the new Greek government,
replacing the facist regime of the colonels, decided to celebrate the new
freedom by honouring Iannis Xenakis with an all-Xenakis Festival in the Herodus
Atticus Theatre. In 1975 Decca recorded for LP the first piano concerto
“Synaphai – connexities for piano and orchestra” with the New
Philharmonia Orchestra under Elgar Howarth and Geoffrey Madge as soloist, this
LP won an Edison award. Many performances followed of this and other works with
the conductors, Michel Tabachnik, David Porcelijn, Cristobal Halfter and Elgar
Howarth.

Sorabji

In the 80’s he became widely known through his integral performances of
the “Opus Clavicembalisticum” by K. Sorabji. He
was given personal written permission from the composer to perform the work
following a number of meetings with the composer. Since the first complete
performance of O.C. in the Holland Festival (Utrecht) on 11/06/82 more
performances of the complete, almost 4 hours duration work have followed in
Chicago, Bonn, Montreal, Paris and in Berlin (Berliner Festspiele). The release
of the 5 CD production Chicago performance, recorded by WFMT-FM in Chicago and
produced by BIS, has received high critical acclaim.

Ernst Krenek

During the 80's he was very much involved with recording the piano
works of Ernst Krenek, this was a unique project as the composer (at
the insistence of Madge) actually conducted in person his sonatas for
these recordings. later, because krenek was so happy with the results
that he wrote his seventh piano sonata which he then dedicated to GDM,
this was also recorded to complete the series.

Compositions

Madge has composed a number of works, including a string quartet, songs,
piano solo works, for two pianos and a ballet “Monkeys in a cage”
(premiered in the Sydney Opera House in 1977 by The Australian Ballet). His
piano concerto was premiered in Amsterdam in 1985.

The influence of Busoni

Geoffrey Madge has long been researching and studying the works and playing
style of the great pianist/composer Ferruccio Busoni. In 1988 Philips issued his 6
CD anthology of Busoni’s solo piano works, this production was an
international success and received numerous prizes, including the Dutch Edison
and the Belgian Caecilia Prize. These CD’s have recently been re-issued by
ArkivMusic in the USA. His performances of the monumental Busoni Piano Concerto
in a number of international festivals have received rave critical response. He
regularly presents recitals and lectures based around the music of Busoni.

Skalkottas

Through his connections with the Greek music-world he came into contact with
the Skalkottas Society in Athens. He was asked by the president of the
Skalkottas Society to give the first performance of the 32 Piano Pieces and 3rd
piano concerto by Nikos Skalkottas during the 1979 ISCM Festival held in Athens
that year. At the time a huge enterprise as almost all the works had to be
played from manuscript. Later with many performances of the cycle and the
beginning of a long-time relationship with Skalkottas's music. In 1998 the
Swedish label BIS invited him to take part in their Skalkottas project. In 1999
Piano Concerto no.1 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra was released, in 2004
Piano Concerto no. 3 with the Caput Ensemble followed by Piano Concerto no. 2
in s Greece.

CD releases

His numerous CD releases include Bach/Busoni transcriptions, works by
Godowsky, Mitropoulos, Reubke, Krenek, Wolpe, Xenakis, Russian music from the
1920’s. Also Medtner’s three piano concertos, Gershwin’s Piano Concerto
and Rhapsody in Blue with the Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra. Many of his
older CD's have been recently re-released.

Chamber music

During recent years he has been very active in the fields of chamber music,
giving performances of major works with various ensemble formations, trios,
quartets and quintets.

The MadgicTouch Foundation

The foundation "MadgicTouch" is devoted to disovering new directions in
performance and pedagogy.(See the links page).

In September 2005 Geoffrey Madge was awarded in Cracow, Poland, the
prestigious Silver Medal “For Merits to Culture Gloria Artis” for his very
prominent artistic creations and great contribution to culture.